The weeks preceding the 24 Hours of Le Mans are not always kind to Matthieu Vaxivière: in 2014, as he was competing in the World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) with ProSpeed Competition in the LMGTE Am class, and was set to participate in the 24 Hours for the first time, the Limoges native fractured a vertebra during the Monaco stage of the Formula Renault 3.5 championship and had to withdraw.

This time, a fracture to his right foot will force the French driver to bow out of the Spa round, final rehearsal before the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Matthieu Vaxivière, who kicked off the 2017 World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) season with a podium finish in LMP2 at the 6 Hours of Silverstone, will be replaced in Belgium by Ben Hanley. The British driver is familiar with the Oreca 07 having driven the car at the 4 Hours of Silverstone, opening round of the ELMS, on April 15th with DragonSpeed, the same team he will represent at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Fingers crossed that Matthieu Vaxivière, unlike in 2014, will recover in time to join Emmanuel Collard and François Perrodo, competing in the LMP2 class this season, at Le Mans on June 17th, and before that to support Fabien Barthez and Timothé Buret with Panis-Barthez Compétition during the ELMS round at Monza, making up for the absence of Nathanaël Berthon participating in another championship.

Photo (Copyright - Pascal Saivet/VSA): Matthieu Vaxivière reached the third step on the LMP2 podium at the 6 Hours of Silverstone.